The Susan Constant had “no problems, just challenges” last week as it journeyed from its home pier on the James River to the Mystic Seaport Museum shipyard in Connecticut. The recreated 17th century vessel, with her two sister ships, the Godspeed and Discovery, is a major attraction at Jamestown Settlement and the flagship of the official fleet of Virginia. It will remain in the Henry B.
du Pont Preservation shipyard for about two years at Mystic while undergoing $4.7 million in repair and restoration work after nearly 35 years of service. Eric Speth, the ship’s captain and director of maritime operations at Jamestown Settlement for more than 35 years, said the major challenge “was dealing with a 400-year old steering system.
” It is the same kind of system that crew members had to use in the original Susan Constant that arrived at Jamestown in May 1607. “The steering is with a tiller and wood staff that work together — a very challenging system. When we were out at sea, when the ship was rolling, it would roll off course and then we would have to respond to make the correction,” Speth said in a phone interview Monday from Mystic.
The constant manual steering required in the ship’s operation, he added, “was physically tiring for the 15-man crew, who worked just one hour at a time” at the task. Under beautiful blue skies, the Susan Constant motors along the James River after leaving Jamestown Settlement on June 17 to fanfare, escorted by James City County .
